ottawafandomcom-20200213-history
User blog:Queen Armada/Canadian Government and Delphia
Canada should buy and have an area from British sector and American Sector McMurdo Station.Canada then can use its technology in masonry and building cities to improve Antarctica.It would be great for Canadians to have a place other than Canada that is Canada overseas other than New Zealand.Build in pavement and concrete into the place and meltdown ice to get to the dirt.Place to work on using powerplants and generators.Team work they will get alot done.Companies.Solve all this mystery of Cruise liner dangerous to Canadians in defenses.Get inside their civilization and print truth on internet about 100's of cities and villages.Canada to tap into it and make fastfood and expenses.Add Antarctic dollar. The concept of cities in Antarctica is different than the concept elsewhere in the world. For one thing, each Antarctican city has its own unique design. It is hard to imagine someone strolling through a city in Antarctica and not immediately knowing which of the cities they are in, based solely on the architecture. For another, there are no streets in Antarctican cities. People get from one area to another either by walking along the boulevards and forest paths, or calling upon their flyer to drop them off at their next destination. Because the people of Antarctica handle much of their own needs through home-based technology, most of the buildings in Antarctican cities are devoted to the arts and sciences, private residences, and a generous representation of restaurants, rather than commerce (office buildings, as that term is understood elsewhere in the world, make up less than ten percent of city structures). Antarctican cities also contain an unusually large amount of space set aside for parks and natural habitats. No matter where you are in an Antarctican city, you are never more than a five minute walk from a small forest, or a ten minute walk from a waterfall. In addition to the hundreds of small cities, townships and villages within the continent, there are seven major metropolises. The scope of this article is limited to a brief description of each of those seven. Anyone curious to know greater details about these seven, or information on Antarctica's hundreds of charming smaller municipalities, is urged to contact the nearest Antarctican embassy. (Please see Tourism for a complete list of embassies and their locations). All visitors to Antarctica arrive first in the oceanside city of Delphia, located on Antarctica's southern shore. The city is famous for its magnificent blue and green bays, which stretch all the way within the city itself. Nearly all structures in Delphia are built of gray granite, so that after a fresh rain the city glistens like a seal. Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime, and in fact there are some families and individuals whose homes are kept aloft by balloons year-round. In addition to its extensive collection of libraries, Delphia is also known for its restaurants, such as the Irunijef, which stretches across seven city blocks, serving hundreds of different seafood dishes. Dell, on the eastern shore of the continent, is built around its miles of white beaches. Because many of the beaches extend into the city itself, it is not unusual, strolling the boulevards to get from one building to the next, to spot whales surfacing, and dolphins leaping, in the adjacent coves. In addition to its reputation for some of the finest museums in Antarctica, Dell is also known for its extensive space exploration complex, which has been in operation since the mid-eighteen hundreds. One of the most unusual cities in Antarctica is Faz, a massive underground city in northern Antarctica. Faz consists entirely of underground caverns, some eighty stories high, carved by water over millions of years. The caverns themselves are comprised of a highly reflective form of rose quartz, so that the entire city can be illuminated by a single candle placed near the entrance (but away from drafts). At seven o'clock each evening, the candle's light is puffed out. Faz is best known for its research facilities, and the awe-inspiring Heart of Waterfalls located in the center of the underground city, where one hundred and thirty-six different waterfalls of various heights (some as tall as a skyscraper) tumble ceaselessly down into a blue pool fifty miles in diameter. Visitors also usually take time to explore the extensive moss forest tucked into the eastern corner of the city. The oldest city in Antarctica, and also the seat of the "government" of Antarctica, such as it is, is the city of Urdz, located on the northern shore. Urdz is home to the Great Hall, the most ancient man-built structure in Antarctica, dating back 40,000 years. The buildings in the city are comprised entirely of red quartz and blue glaciers. Urdz is the largest producer of roses in the nation, with over 10,000 varieties, including 100 different species of pure blues. At least once in each Antarctican's lifetime, a pilgrimage is made to Mimosa, on the western shore of Antarctica, site of the continent's only battle, in 1403 B.C., to repel foreign invaders. Mimosa is home to the world's largest sculpture, consisting of 620,000 intricately-carved life-sized statues which fill the bay, shoreline and hills. The city also offers an excellent example of a Fes, the circular area of common buildings often found in early Antarctican towns. Suh, located halfway up the western peninsula of the continent, is composed entirely of huge statues in which its citizens live and work. The tallest of these, a tribute to Hal Felix, who conceived the notion of the Five Concepts, is eighteen stories high. The city is famous for its noodles, its huge population of elfs, a cat-like creature native to Antarctica, and its botanical research. Squirbranchrel, in the northern forest, is the oldest and largest example of the original Antarctican communities, when the natives lived in trees (Antarcticans did not go through a cave-dwelling phase). Fifty miles wide, and thirty miles deep, the city is built entirely in the treetops of the region, its buildings connected to one another through an elaborate series of multi-level wooden bridges. Squirbranchrel boasts the continent's tallest skyscraper, measured from base to wooden observation deck, as well as the world's largest aquarium (twelve miles wide, eight miles deep, three miles high) The oft-quoted remark, that Antarcticans judge applications based on 'talent and temperament', seems to be true. To be approved for a visit, a person should have some interest in creativity, whether that be the arts, home-decorating, cooking, gardening, software, science or similar pursuits, and should also be what is generally referred to as a 'good person'. There have been many questions asked at conferences about the qualification process, so by way of elaboration, let it be said here that Antarcticans do not expect an applicant to be an accomplished, recognized artist, nor do they expect the applicant to be someone who never loses their temper, never does something foolish, or never feels jealousy or depression. Being in Antarctica in and of itself appears to have a stimulating and soothing effect on people, which Antarcticans realize, so even someone who has not yet spent much time being creative, or who has had a troubled life up to this point, is usually still invited to visit. The truth is, most people who apply to visit Antarctica are accepted. Another question often asked is how detailed the application is. The application is a single sheet of paper, consisting of nine questions. From how these nine questions are answered, Antarcticans can apparently tell whether or not approval of the application would make sense. None of the nine questions concern themselves with the applicant's medical or financial history, or with the applicant's age, gender, race, religious or political beliefs, or sexual orientation. If you are approved for a visit you will be invited to the nearest embassy at Antarctica's expense for a private lunch, during which time an embassy employee will answer any questions you may have about Antarctica itself, whether philosophical or practical, or about the mechanics of your visit. Visits are generally approved for a one year stay, meaning that if your application has been approved, you will be invited to live in Antarctica for a twelve-month period. During this time you will be free to travel wherever you wish to throughout the continent, although it is customary for no one, including native Antarcticans, to visit the three Hopes, large areas of the interior set aside where wildlife may live untouched and unseen by Man. You will be provided with sufficient funds upon your arrival in Antarctica to live a very comfortable existence during this period (the monies come from contributions made by Antarcticans. You are not expected to pay back any of the amount you spend). At the end of the year, you will be asked if you would like to remain in Antarctica, or if you would prefer to leave. If you choose to return, your airflight home is also paid for, and assistance is provided, financial and otherwise, in helping you obtain employment similar to the employment you had prior to your visit. In most cases, shorter visits (a weekend, a week) are not encouraged, because it is felt it is just not possible to experience Antarctica in so short a time. If you are invited to Antarctica, it is not an invitation to be photographed alongside several famous sites and then depart; it is an invitation to consider a different land in which to live. Once the details of the visit are set, it is up to you to make arrangements to arrive at one of the several departure points around the world where air travel to Antarctica is established (as of this writing, current points of departure are Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; London, England; Hong Kong, China; Sydney, Australia; and Brazzaville, Congo). You must pay the expense of traveling to the point of departure; there is no charge for the flight from the point of departure to Antarctica. At the point of departure, you and your belongings will be screened briefly and painlessly with a handheld device which operates on sound waves and is used to make certain there are no insects, seeds, bacteria, etc. present which might otherwise inadvertently make their way to the continent. This procedure lasts a moment only, and is done with you fully dressed, suitcases left closed, and any film you may be carrying undamaged. For the record, your physical person is not searched, nor are any of your belongings. Antarcticans are strong believers in a right to privacy. You will likely share the transcontinental flyer taking you to Antarctica with a half dozen or so other people also about to experience living in Antarctica. All new visitors arrive in Delphia, located on the southern coast of the continent. Each person, couple or family is greeted by an Antarctican who has volunteered to help visitors orient themselves in this new land. The most commonly reported reaction people have visiting Antarctica for the first time is a sense of exhilaration. Visitors speak of the beauty of the land, the purity of the sky, the freshness of the air, the atmosphere of freedom and privacy, the contagious sense of peace and joy among the people. This exhilaration begins when you leave the terminal at which you arrived and behold your first glimpse of Antarctican life, the city of Delphia. Delphia is built along a series of beautiful blue and emerald bays, crystal clear to a depth of 1,000 feet, its tree-lined blocks filled with parks, rivers and pastel and granite buildings, the tallest of which is twenty stories. Brightly colored hot air balloons float silently above the city, often late into the evening; walking home along the canals from a midnight meal with friends, you may be able to hear, in the sky, the occasional murmur of conversation and laughter. Although you are free to do whatever you wish as soon as you disembark from the transcontinental flyer, visitors are strongly urged to spend their first day in Antarctica locating a residence, because of the physical adjustment most visitors go through their first twenty-four hours in Antarctica. Your volunteer guide will fly you to a number of sites he or she thinks would enchant you based on talking to you: this may be a glass and stone suite located atop one of the City's modest towers, overlooking the bays, or a small townhome deep within one of the many lively neighborhood sections, or a quiet cottage off by itself on one of the many cliffs overlooking the ocean. You are welcome to change your residence as often as you prefer, although many people grow attached to the home they first chose, their first day on the continent. As alluded to, nearly all visitors to Antarctica go through a brief period of physical adjustment when they first arrive on the continent. A few hours after landing, and by then in their own, newly-selected home, visitors are likely to experience a hoarseness of voice, accompanied by a sense of fatigue and, often, mild diarrhea. Some of these symptoms may be psychological, of course, but it is believed they are in large measure the result, ironically, of breathing unpolluted air, drinking pure water, and eating nontoxic food. This period of adjustment lasts from twelve to twenty-four hours, and then does not return. To cope with it, most first-time visitors spend their first day in bed, talking, watching local television, drifting in and out of sleep, snacking on any of a wide variety of foods which can be delivered to their home (home delivery of food and other products is much more common in Antarctica than it is elsewhere. Nearly any type of food can be home-delivered. Most people report the meals they receive through home delivery are of a higher quality, and far more delicious, than restaurant meals they've eaten elsewhere in the world.) As has been mentioned in another section, Antarcticans, for whatever reason, maintain their ideal weight no matter how much food they consume, or the type of food. Western nutritionists have been curious to see if non-Antarcticans visting the continent would experience this same effect, and although it is still too early to draw any definitive conclusions, it does apppear that visitors may also consume large quantities of food without gaining weight, and in fact will often lose weight regardless of the amount of food they eat, until they, too, are at their ideal weight. Whether this phenomenon is caused by the food itself, or the water, or something else, is not known at this time. Once the initial period of physical adjustment ends, you will find yourself with much more energy than ever before, and a strong sense of well-being. You are now ready to start exploring. Your guide will show you first how to operate a flyer, the chief means of private transport in Antarctica. Flyers come in different sizes, but most are built to accommodate two to four adults. The typical flyer is slightly larger than an automobile, and is sometimes described as looking like an "upside-down boat". Although flyers have tires which can be lowered for road travel, they are most often, as their name implies, used for air travel from one location to another. Visitors often express some trepidation initially at using a flyer, believing them to be dangerous, but in fact in the four hundred years of their use, there has never once been a fatality from a flyer. This is in large part because unlike a car, where the owner is the operator, a flyer operates automatically, based on the instructions you give it. Flyers have no steering wheels or manual controls. Antarcticans tend to develop a great deal of affection for their flyer, much like people elsewhere in the world do towards their automobiles. A flyer is virtually indestructible, comes on a moment's notice when called, and will wait patiently for you wherever you are. Flyers make use of artificial intelligence technology, which Antarcticans refer to as "self-generated filtering", so that they can carry on intelligent conversations with you to a remarkable degree, and have access to the full range of data available on the Antarctican Internet. While on the subject of flyers, we should spend a little time discussing travel in general. As you will notice during your stay in Delphia, Antarctican cities do not have any streets. Delphia, like most Antarctican cities, is laid out like an immense park, with buildings clustered throughout the trees, lakes and rivers, joined to each other, depending on the area of the city, by pedestrian boulevards, bridges, garden walkways, or grassy paths. For this reason, when using a flyer within the city, your flyer will transport you to the "park pad" nearest your destination (park pads are scattered unobtrusively throughout the cities). It is then a short walk to where you wish to go, or you may use a trolley. Automated trolleys run on rails throughout the cities, and can take you from your flyer to your specific destinaton, and from there to another store or restaurant you wish to visit, or return you to your flyer. Although most people use their flyers to travel by air from one city to another, there are two-lane highways winding along the coast all around the continent for those who wish to travel by road, at which point the flyer's tires are used. Flyers are powered based on the slow molecular decomposition of certain metals. A thick sheet of this energy source, roughly six inches by six inches, lasts for approximately 100,000 miles. The sheets themselves are inexpensive. After a week or so in Delphia, most visitors start exploring the continent, a journey that normally lasts several months. Many visitors, half-way through the first year, will return to whichever residence they have decided to call home in Antarctica, to get more of a feel for the day-to-day experience of living in Antarctica, shopping in the local stores, planting a garden, visiting the neighborhood restaurants, museums, and theaters. People often talk of this period as a time when they feel great inner peace, and physical well-being. There is a tendency to read more, to go on long walks in the woods and along the shores, to explore the quiet valleys, to picnic alongside the rivers, to paint outdoors. As your first year in Antarctica comes to a close, you will be asked if you'd like to stay, or if you want to leave (you are, of course, free to leave at any point, even after the first day, but most people appreciate having a full year to make up their mind). If you do stay, your guide or a number of volunteer associations will help you find a job, if you would like one. As stated elsewhere (please see People), because of the low cost of living in Antarctica, Antarcticans generally work only four months out of each year, and only three days a week. The rest of their time is spent pursuing their own interests. Working for money plays a very small role in Antarcticans' lives.ntarcticans love to eat. Their amazing metabolism allows Antarcticans to eat great quantities of food without going above their ideal weight, although most meals are generally the size and diversity of what an American, for example, might eat on Thanksgiving. By far the most popular food in Antarctica is seafood, and in particular shellfish. Because nearly all the population lives near the shores, and the interior itself is saturated with lakes, rivers and streams, most seafood and fresh water fish is simply caught an hour or so before dinner, and kept in a tin bucket of cold, emerald water until it is time for it to be cooked (other than clams, oysters and caviar, Antarcticans do not eat their seafood raw). Antarctica's waters abound with food, most of which will be familiar to non-natives: tuna, swordfish, halibut, snapper, flounder, sand dabs and sea bass are the most popular ocean fish, and trout and salmon the most popular from the rivers and streams. The only fish known to be unique to Antarctica is the salt water Wem, which grows up to a foot and a half in length, has no scales, and is boneless (its head is encased in cartilage). Wem, when cooked, changes from a pearly grey to pure white, and becomes slightly springy. It's extremely popular because of its ease of preparation, and its ability to absorb the flavors of the foods with which it is cooked. There are a large variety of shrimp, some of which grow nearly a foot in length, as well as several species of lobster, including the Antarctican blue lobster, with large fore claws and side legs much thicker and more meat-filled than its Atlantic cousin. Crab and mussels are found primarily along the northern shores, and are among the few seafoods an Antarctican (those Antarcticans living other than in the north) purchases rather than catches. Among land animals, the most popular meat is pork. Antarcticans generally eat it in one form or another at least once a day, either as chops, roasts, sausages, stuffings, marinated slices or in stews (there are hundreds of different pork stew recipes). It is also, of course, frequently smoked for hams and bacon. Also very popular is beef, although only certain cuts: Antarcticans eat rib eye and porterhouse steaks, filet mignon, rib roasts and are fond of sliced roast beef, served in hot and cold sandwiches, as well as a chuck pot roast, chula, which is covered with grated horseradish briefly marinated in vinegar, then cooked with beef stock and root vegetables, but the rest of the cow is generally used for ground beef (ground beef, often mixed with ground veal and pork, is popular in a variety of wrapped dishes, as well as used to fashion meat balls and a type of meatloaf made with carrots; in the late 1940's, the hamburger was first introduced to Antarctica by explorers returning home, and has since become one of the nation's most popular foods, along with hot dogs, which were introduced a decade earlier). Veal and lamb are also popular, as are a variety of game. Among fowl, the most popular is duck. A favorite lunchtime meal, sold in the plazas of most Antarctican cities, is a "flat and bent", meaning a duck breast seared in a skillet until it is just done, then thinly sliced and placed on a bed of crisp greens in a wide, chewy hard roll, moistened with several sauces, and served with a roasted duck leg on the side. After duck, most Antarcticans prefer goose, then chicken, then turkey (turkey has not been domesticated in Antarctica. It is still wild). The most popular drink in Antarctica is plain ice water. Whenever an Antarctican sits, there seems always to be a glass at his or her side. Sparkling water can be obtained from Antarctica's many mineral wells, and some people drink it, but it is not as popular as it is elsewhere in the world. Fruit juices are popular, particularly citrus and melon varieties. After dinner, an Antarctican will often have a "dessert drink", which in Antarctica refers to an ice cream soda, a milkshake, or a particularly flavorful local drink made with chilled cream, coffee and sugar known as a 'starter', although it's unclear what it starts, since it comes at the end of the meal. Other than in these forms, and added to coffee, milk is generally used in Antarctica only for marinating and cooking-- it is not served as a drink. There are no carbonated sodas, such as colas or ginger ales, in Antarctica. They apparently never caught on. Among alcoholic drinks, beer (known as spatendunk), is the most popular. Antarcticans prefer their beers to be dark and strong-flavored, with slightly more bitterness than most Westerners are accustomed to, and served ice cold. There are a number of commercial breweries throughout the nation, but many Antarcticans prepare their own. A variety of alcoholic flavorings made from fermented roots are frequently used with hot coffee and cream, and vodka mixed with different fruit juices is also popular. Wine, when it is served, is almost always red. White wine is made, but is used primarily for cooking, and even then, not very often. There are no dessert wines in Antarctica. Whiskey is popular with about ten percent of Antarcticans. It is usually served very cold, often with a small amount of fermented root flavorings added, and a pinch of sugar. As a part of their unusual metabolism, Antarcticans feel the cheerful effects of alcohol, but are apparently not subject to the sometimes negative effects (anger, conversation monopolization) which can occur. The most popular condiment in Antarctica is mustard (there is said to be over 400 varieties available), followed by mayonnaise and ketchup. Relishes tend to be strong-flavored, and not sweet: the most common are a garlicky blend of chopped-up olives; a cooked mixture of julienned red and green bell peppers and chilies; and a cooked, cooled, minced mushroom spread. It has been said that it is impossible to get a bad meal in an Antarctican restaurant. Even the smallest establishment serves extraordinary food; the most famous places prepare meals that are remembered decades later. There is not enough space here to survey all the stellar Antarctican establishments; suffice it to say that the typical visit to an Antarctican restaurant involves being led from the sunlight of the sidewalk to a cool, dark private roomette where an amazing variety of edibles are offered and discussed, hung by the waiter's hands upside down, and still kicking, or cradled across palms, still tail-flicking wet from the tanks, or placed on a white linen napkin in the middle of the table, green and yellow, still crisp and sun-warmed, clumps of chocolate earth still belling along the hairy striped roots. Antarcticans are excellent cooks, no doubt because of the importance they place on physical pleasures. Most Antarcticans cook at home using an oyster (not to be confused with the seafood-- the name appears to be a coincidence). An oyster is a large, square skillet made of cast iron, the left two thirds of which is a flat cooking surface with a slight border, and the right third of which is comprised of three equal-sized, square cooking wells. The oyster is used to cook most Antarctican meals (the typical Antarctican household also has a cast iron stove, used for roasting larger cuts of meat, and for certain baked goods), and is remarkably versatile in its uses. The flat portion of the oyster is used for sautéing, and for an Antarctican cooking technique known as "splash steaming", whereby the cook, armed with a bottle filled with water, stock or other liquid in her left hand, and a wide spatula in her right, cooks foods at an extremely high heat by continuously flipping the food into the air, splashing the bottled liquid on the surface to produce a steam the food is seared and moistened with, then flattening the food momentarily against the hot flat cooking surface before flipping it into the air again and resteaming it. Splash steaming is used with some vegetables and fruits, and occasionally with seafood. It tends to produce food full of flavor, and incredibly moist. The three cooking wells on the right of the oyster are used for steaming, poaching, boiling, stewing, braising, deep-frying, baking, charbroiling, creating stocks, and reducing and thickening sauces. Antarcticans normally eat twice a day, once in late morning, and once at late evening. Antarcticans divide meats into two categories: "day" meats and "night" meats. Day meats are fowl and seafood; night meats are pork, beef, veal, lamb and game other than fowl. If a night meat is smoked or brined, such as a ham, it is considered a day meat (If a day meat is smoked or brined, such as smoked salmon, it is still considered to be a day meat). Virtually all meals include at least two meats, and a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains. It is a tradition that one of the meats is a day meat, and one is a night meat (since both types of meat are eaten during the day meal, and both types are eaten during the night meal, it is not known why Antarcticans categorize meats the way they do). While a meal is being prepared, Antarcticans typically sauté in fresh butter, on a corner of the cooking surface, a small mound of wild mushrooms, onto which is drizzled various sauces. These mushrooms are then eaten by the cook and any guests while the meal is cooked. Once a meal is ready to be served, all the foods are removed from the wells, and a thick batter of ground wheat and mushroom poured into each well to a depth of about two inches. This batter, once it has absorbed all the flavors left in each well, and dried somewhat, is then pulled out and served with the meal much as one would biscuits. Similarly, once all the foods are removed from the flat cooking surface of the oyster, a thin layer of batter is poured across the hot surface to soak up all the juices of the foods cooked on the surface, then adroitly flipped, allowed to cook momentarily on the other side, then sliced up into large squares which can be eaten plain (they are delicious!) or used to roll up the foods served. Antarctica is not a democracy. There are no political parties in Antarctica, no elections, no Congress nor Parliament, nor President, Prime Minister, or King. There are no laws, courthouses, attorneys, police or jails. Antarcticans have many heroes in their history, artists, discoverers, and daredevils, but there has never been any one individual who is thought of as having "led the nation", a colloquialism that has to be explained to Antarcticans. Government in Antarctica is almost non-existent, and is what most people would consider "unofficial". What government there is, is comprised entirely of volunteers. They rarely meet. Anyone who wishes to be a part of the Antarctican government, either on the national or local level, may do so simply by volunteering their services. The government posts the projects it is currently working on, on the Internet. People wishing to get involved in government may contact the committee working on the project, and by that contact become part of the committee. One stops being a part of the government by no longer participating in the process. Committee "meetings" take place on Web-based bulletin boards, the full texts of which are available to the public ("public" is perhaps the wrong word to use here, since it suggests a separation between the people and their government, a populace unaware of what is happening within its own government, except for occasional "public disclosures", whereas in Antarctica full knowledge about the government's activities is readily available to all). There is no chair to a committee. Whoever appears to have the best ideas is usually looked upon by the other committee members as the key member of that committee, and holds that status until someone with even better ideas comes along. In this regard, many outsiders, needing to put some sort of label on Antarctican government, classify it as a meritocracy. The government has no power of enforcement, and is therefore limited to making suggestions. A recent example will illustrate the government's role in everyday life. Now that Antarctica has decided to allow visitors to its shores, one of the committees formed to aid in that effort decided to focus on devising a series of standardized symbols which could be useful to non-English-speaking visitors trying to locate restaurants, hotels, sights of interest, etc. The committee developed signs based in large part, deliberately, on symbols visitors might already be familiar with from their use for that purpose in other nations. These designs have been made available to the general populace, but there is nothing which would force Antarcticans to display the signs, or prevent them from displaying alternate signs they might think more appropriate, or no signs at all. A question asked frequently by outsiders is if Antarcticans fear their government might be "taken over" internally, since it is so easy to become a part of the government. Antarcticans don't fear this at all. For one thing, the government is, in a sense, constantly taken over already, since the people most influential on committees tend to change fairly regularly, as senior members leave for other interests, and new members sign on. For another, Antarcticans are simply not interested in gaining power over others. Personal honor (truthfulness, kindness, helpfulness) has been such a dominant idea in Antarctican culture for so many thousands of years that to behave in a dishonorable way is something to which no Antarctican would lower himself (which in large part is why there is virtually no crime in Antarctica, and none of the infrastructure associated with crime, such as law, courts, attorneys and police). For a third, even if the government were to be violently "taken over", all present committee members assassinated and replaced, the government still has no powers of enforcement and could never gain any, and so therefore the individuals involved in the take-over would not be better positioned than before. Indeed, since government in Antarctica is based on casual cooperation rather than official institutions (of which there are none), a taken-over government would simply be ignored, and a new body of people willing to make suggestions on national or local issues would arise to take its place. (This issue is absurd to Antarcticans, since it simply would never happen, but it has been addressed here because it comes up so frequently in press conferences). Another common question asked is if Antarcticans fear, if not a take-over from within, then at least a takeover from without. This idea would appear initially to have some merit, since the memory of the attempted invasion of Antarctica in 1403 B.C., which resulted in so many Antarctican dead (600,000 men, women and children, representing 20% of the population), and which in fact brought about the decision to create a national government, figures so prominently in Antarctican history (please see History). However, because that battle did have so strong an impact on Antarcticans, steps were taken long ago to prevent any possible invasion of the continent, using an application of nin, one of the Five Concepts (please see Beliefs), which apparently acts as a protective shield not only against armies, but also against pollution, warming effects, and all the other adverse byproducts of the rest of the world. In addition to the national government, there are local governments at the city and village level, and regional governments for the three Hopes, and for the Great Hollow. But again, it must be cautioned that in speaking of government in terms of Antarctica, we are talking of something very different from what the rest of the world means by that word. The "government" for the Great Hollow, for example, consists of a single committee of three scholars, who have not "met" over the Internet to discuss the Great Hollow in over a decade. When we say therefore that Antarctica is not a democracy, we mean that it is not ruled by any entity, whether it be the people themselves, or someone basing their rule on popular support, God, or the army. When Antarcticans think of their nation, they think of the forests and jungles, the cities and lakes, the mountains and shores. They do not think of it as something ruled, even by themselves. http://zarco-macross.wikidot.com/wiki:antarctica http://zarco-macross.wikidot.com/wiki:greenland Category:Blog posts